The law, which had the approval of Clements himself, allowed inmates such as Ebel to earn time off their sentences for the months and years they had spent in administrative segregation, commonly known as solitary confinement.

That changed the previous rules that provided inmates time off for good behavior, but that time could be earned only outside administrative segregation.

Ebel had spent most of his adult life in so-called ad-seg, and Department of Corrections documents released Thursday indicate he was far from a model prisoner.

From the time he entered prison until just days before his release on mandatory parole, Ebel was a menace to himself and others. The documents outline his attacks on guards and fellow inmates, death threats against guards and a total of 28 disciplinary write-ups.

Ebel walked out of Sterling Correctional Facility on Jan. 28, about 115 days early thanks to his earned time, much of it stemming from his time in administrative segregation.

DOC spokeswoman Alison Morgan said Ebel accumulated his earned time while on administrative segregation and that it wouldn't have been the case before the legislature passed the new parole law in 2011.

Clements was shot to death March 19 on the doorstep of his Monument home, two days after pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon was slain in another attack linked to Ebel. Ebel died after a chase and shootout with Texas authorities on March 21.

In its original form, the bill envisioned new restrictions on the DOC when it came to placing inmates in ad-seg, particularly those with mental illnesses or impairments. It also required prison officials to move inmates from segregation back to the general prison population before their release.

DOC officials opposed the original bill, and it was put aside while bill sponsors met with key prison officials, including Clements.

"He (Clements) was concerned about the administrative segregation population, and he asked Sen. Carroll and I to scale the bill back a little because it featured a number of requirements for the DOC to change administrative segregation," Levy said. "The original bill, for example, wanted them (DOC) to have more psychiatric resources available. They would have had to make more checks on mental health. We scaled the bill back at Clements' request."

In an undated letter to Carroll, Gary Maas, the director of intergovernmental relations and the legislative liaison for the DOC, thanked her for "including and incorporating the concerns and input of our agency" in her redrafted bill.

Maas referenced a meeting with Clements, who had requested a study of the DOC's classification system. "Obviously this will include a detailed analysis of the use of Administrative Segregation."

Maas said the revised bill "will incorporate changes and direction that DOC feels it can implement, while leaving the external reclassification analysis unencumbered to make necessary conclusions and recommendations."

Maas said the department would "gladly" support the revised bill, which included "the recently revised 90-day permissive earned time threshold."

Hickenlooper hired Clements in early January that year, and Clements took office that same month. The governor said last week that he and Clements discussed the perils of extended administrative segregation, and added that he knew someone whose son had suffered in ad-seg.

Although Hickenlooper said last week that he hadn't mentioned names, he was referring to Jack Ebel, a Boulder attorney, longtime friend and the father of Evan Ebel.

He told her "that he would kill her if he ever saw her on the streets and that he would make her beg for her life." His punishment was 59 days of lost privileges.

In 2005 and 2006, he threatened to kill staff members in two different prisons, according to the records. On another occasion, he threatened to beat staffers if they didn't handcuff him.

Ebel, a member of the white supremacist 211 Crew, was disciplined in prison 10 times for verbal abuse, twice for disobeying staff orders, four times for assault and three times for fighting, the records show.

He had tattoos of a swastika and another that said "Hopeless" on his stomach. There were Nazi lightning bolt tattoos on his left wrist and hand. Tattoos on his right biceps said "Cowboy" and "White" and another of a skull was on his right forearm. The word "Hate" was tattooed on his right hand, according to prison records.

A DOC document described him as "Security Threat Group: Member — 211 crew."

A prerelease assessment last Dec. 14 by DOC case manager Donna Sims indicated he was a "very high risk (recidivism odds: two in three)."

He repeatedly attacked other inmates and staff with his own feces.

Ebel first entered prison Feb. 11, 2005, on a three-year sentence for robbery and menacing.

Twenty-three days later, he was placed in punitive segregation for the first time at Fremont Correctional Facility after getting into a fistfight with an inmate.

In June 2005, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for assault.

Ebel entered prison in medium security. He would never remain in a general population cell for an entire month for the nearly eight years he was in prison. Only four months after he entered prison, his security level was increased to "close." Five months after that he was classified as "max administrative segregation."

Feces smeared on door

In May 2005, for example, he repeatedly hit himself in the head with his fists on the 4th; smeared feces on his cell door on the 7th; kicked his cell door, and yelled and provoked other inmates to do likewise on the 12th; smeared feces on another inmate's cell door on the 13th; and repeatedly kicked his door on the 31st. In subsequent incidents, DOC officers used pepper spray twice when he made threatening movements.

On Nov. 7, 2006, Ebel was handcuffed and being moved by two correctional officers and he complained that the handcuffs were too tight. After one of the officers loosened a cuff, Ebel stepped out of his cell, slipped off his cuffs and hit the officer in the face with his fist, cutting the officer's nose and finger.

In May 2008, Ebel was moved to Centennial Correctional Facility under a close security level into the "Pro-Unit," a program intended to reform inmates long in solitary confinement. Ebel lasted a few months before he fought another inmate on May 20 and threatened staff.

He was sent to the highest security prison in Colorado in Cañon City: Colorado State Penitentiary.

This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to incorrect information from a source, the role a 2011 law played in Evan Ebel's early release from prison was overstated. The law was only one factor.

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